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U.S. NEWS Thursday 20 april 2017

Police: Fresno gunman laughed as he explained his actions

SCOTT SMITH ment for help, but Randalls
SOPHIA BOLLAG could not be saved.
Associated Press Friend Eddie Valencia said
FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — The Randalls was excited to
black gunman suspected start work as a customer-
of killing three white men service representative and
in a racially motivated at- was doing a ride-along
tack in Fresno was proud Tuesday. He described the
of what he had done and 34-year-old as an open-
laughed many times as he minded person with a
explained his actions in in- sharp wit and a big heart.
terviews with police, au- He said his friend, who left
thorities said Wednesday. behind two preschoolers
After Kori Ali Muhammad and a wife in Clovis, would
learned that he was want- not want people to feel
ed in the death of a secu- anger toward the shooter.
rity guard last week, he de- “He wouldn’t want people
cided to take out as many to be divided by this,” Va-
other white men as possi- lencia said. “There were
ble before he was caught, no boundaries with race,
Fresno Police Chief Jerry religions, beliefs, with any-
Dyer said. Fresno police chief Jerry Dyer, front, briefs reporters in Fresno, Calif., after a shooting Tuesday, April thing. If you were a good
“That’s what he set out to 18, 2017. A man shot and killed three people on the streets of downtown Fresno shouting “God person and basically could
do that day. He said he did is great” in Arabic during at least one of the slayings and later telling police that he hates white have a good conversa-
not like white men and said people, authorities said. (AP Photo/Scott Smith) tion, he would call you a
white people were respon- friend. He was a stand-up
sible for keeping black peace because she had “So, I’m very, very, very first to die on Tuesday when guy.”
people down,” Dyer said. the chance to tell him how grateful that I was able to Muhammad walked up Muhammad also shot Mark
Muhammad “is not a ter- much she loved him and say goodbye, maybe not to a Pacific Gas & Elec- Gassett, 37, of Fresno, after
rorist but he is a racist,” how proud she was of him a at that moment, but prior tric truck and fired into the he had picked up grocer-
Dyer said. few days before his death. to that,” she said. passenger seat. The driver ies at a Catholic Charities
The suspect was candid in He told her loved her too. Zackary Randalls was the sped to the police depart- building. q
explaining his actions from
Thursday night to Tuesday
morning, when he fired 16 Survivalist convicted of killing trooper in ambush
rounds in less than two min-
utes and killed three white MICHAEL RUBINKAM nia. Cpl. Bryon Dickson II, a The gunman led authori- the woods while eluding
men on the same block, Associated Press married father of two, was ties on a 48-day manhunt capture.
the police chief said. MILFORD, Pa. (AP) — A killed, and a second troop- through the rugged Po- Frein showed no emotion
Meanwhile, family and Pennsylvania man who hid er was shot through the hips cono Mountains before U.S. as the verdict was read,
friends mourned the four in the forest under cover and left debilitated. marshals caught him at an and avoided looking at his
men. of night and opened fire Frein was “literally hunting abandoned airplane han- parents as he was led from
Francine Williams de- with a sniper’s rifle was con- humans” when he peered gar more than 20 miles the courtroom.
scribed her 25-year-old victed of capital murder at his targets through a from the barracks. The trial moves into a pen-
son, Carl Williams, as a kind Wednesday in the ambush scope during a late-night After a two-week trial that alty phase Thursday, with
and giving person who had slaying of a state police shift change and squeezed presented uncontested ev- the same jury deciding
recently gotten engaged. trooper he targeted at ran- the trigger four times, Pike idence of Frein’s guilt, the whether he deserves the
Williams was a manager at dom in hopes of sparking a County District Attorney jury convicted him on all death penalty or life in pris-
a Toys R’ Us who was at his revolution. Ray Tonkin told jurors in 12 charges, including mur- on without parole.
second job when Muham- A jury convicted Eric Frein, his closing argument. He der of a law enforcement Tonkin told reporters he will
mad shot and killed him at 33, in the Sept. 12, 2014, at- called Frein a terrorist who officer, terrorism and two be seeking “full justice,”
a Motel 6. tack at the Blooming Grove sought to change the gov- weapons of mass destruc- while defense lawyer Bill
She said Wednesday she state police barracks in ernment through bullets tion counts related to small Ruzzo said he will appeal to
was in shock, but also at northeastern Pennsylva- and bombs. explosive devices he left in jurors to spare Frein’s life.q